Guardiola expels the ghosts of the Champions League ... and looks forward to the "European crown" with City
Guardiola expelled, after nearly a decade of disappointments, the ghosts of the Champions League in football, when he led Manchester City yesterday to the first final in its history, at the expense of French Paris Saint-Germain.
The Spanish coach repeated his victory (2-1 in the first round) with two goals from the Paris-born Algerian star, Riad Mahrez, on an icy ground in Manchester.
And preparing in the coming days to receive a fifth title in the English Premier League within ten years.
In the recent past, City was Manchester United's "troublesome neighbor", according to the latter's former coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, during his breakout success at home.
But the verse has now turned, so the blue side in Manchester has become the strongest, leaving its Red Devils competing for the title of the European counterpart, the "Europa League".
At the end of this month, the Spanish coach is waiting for the match between Chelsea and Real Madrid (1-1) today.
"Reaching the Champions League final helps us understand what we have achieved in the last four years. What we have achieved in four years is unbelievable," said Guardiola, who failed to win the Champions League with Bayern Munich between 2013 and 2016 and then with City.
Remarkable symmetry
After a difficult start in England, Guardiola led City to four League Cup titles and one in the Cup, seemingly within close range of a third league title in four years. But so far, the domestic success has not retreated to Europe, where he failed to skip the quarter-finals previously, in a scene similar to his career with Bayern Munich, where he bowed out three times from the semi-finals. "People think I have to reach the Final every year, because that happened in the past," Guardiola added. "This is not fair, because the consistency these young men have shown is remarkable in every competition they have participated in in the last four or five years," the 50-year-old said.
Setie expelled many demons in his confrontation with Saint-Germain and the summer of the 2020 edition: a squandering of opportunities, controversial arbitration decisions and a sometimes reckless defense that led to his dismissal in recent years.
But this time, the VAR assistant referee helped cancel a penalty kick for a ball that turned out to be rebound from the left-back Ukrainian Alexander Zenchenko's shoulder. Mehrez had fought with two shots, while his defense played the role of an impenetrable block in front of a French attack missed by injured star Kylian Mbappe. .
Guardiola said after the match, "They were very good in the first half, but we defended well. We defended together, we helped each other."
"It is very difficult to reach the final of this competition. It is the most difficult in terms of the quality of the players. You have to be calm and suffer in difficult moments. We have succeeded," said the coach, who has a wonderful bench.
A single victory on May 29 will place Guardiola among a small list of coaches crowned three times the Champions League title, alongside Englishman Bob Paisley, Italian Carlo Ancelotti and Frenchman Zinedine Zidane.
With 25 titles in his balance during 12 seasons with Barcelona, Bayern and City, Labib can silence all his critics and establish his name among the best coaches in history if he emerges victorious in the upcoming Istanbul campaign.
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